Verizon appeases regulators by selling spectrum to AT&T

AT&T will strengthen its sometimes spotty LTE coverage in some major markets.

Verizon Wireless is selling $1.9 billion worth of lower 700MHz spectrum to rival AT&T in 39 US markets. The sale will help AT&T boost its sometimes spotty 4G coverage in Chicago, Miami, Los Angeles, and many other cities.

Besides getting $1.9 billion from AT&T, a swap will result in Verizon receiving some of AT&T's airwaves in Los Angeles, Phoenix, Fresno, and Portland, Oregon.

Verizon last year bought $3.6 billion worth of spectrum in the Advanced Wireless Services (AWS) band from cable companies Comcast, Time Warner Cable, and Bright House Networks. To get regulators' approval, Verizon agreed to divest itself of its spectrum in the 700MHz lower B block. Verizon had already sold about half of its licenses to some smaller firms, and the sale to AT&T will complete the lower 700MHz sales, Verizon said.

The sale to AT&T is still pending approval from the Federal Communications Commission and Department of Justice.

In addition to the deal with AT&T, Verizon is selling spectrum in several North Carolina markets to a private equity firm called Grain Management. Grain is also acquiring an AWS license covering Dallas from AT&T—and Verizon will lease that license from Grain.

This is one example where the government regulating capitalism makes sense. Otherwise Verizon would become the single dominant US phone company. - But hopefully Sprint and T-Mobile will also be given enough access to spectrum so that they can compete.- And I would also like to see small/regional US phone carriers being allowed to use/lease more phone networks from the major Telicos.

This should make any Chicago-based Arsians happy if they're still on AT&T.

AT&T owns most of the non-farm-belt, non-mountain-west 700MHz lower "C" licenses (not to be confused with the upper "C" licenses Verizon owns), and the more B block licenses AT&T gets, the better for its customers (faster speeds). We may see more deals for 700MHz spectrum, as we're starting to approach build-out deadlines that include penalties for non-compliance.

Going forward we are going to see carrier consolidation around bands. AT&T has lower 700 and WCS for LTE, Verizon has upper 700 and AWS, Sprint will use extended-850MHz (SMR), PCS and BRS/EBS for LTE, and T-Mobile will use AWS. It makes no sense for AT&T to continue to hold on to AWS licenses

As a pragmatist, this seems quite good in that it should improve coverage overall.

As an idealist, this seems quite bad in that it is solidifying a duopoly.

To be fair, it would be very hard to make that duopoly any more solid than it already is.

I recall that the 700MHz auction a few years back was notable for Google's involvement in getting Open Access strings attached, and Verizon is on record as being unhappy with those requirements. If this sale includes all that spectrum, then Verizon has a very good reason for the sale - so they can get rid of those pesky regulatory requirements and go back to being the control freaks they used to be.

As a pragmatist, this seems quite good in that it should improve coverage overall.

As an idealist, this seems quite bad in that it is solidifying a duopoly.

To be fair, it would be very hard to make that duopoly any more solid than it already is.

I recall that the 700MHz auction a few years back was notable for Google's involvement in getting Open Access strings attached, and Verizon is on record as being unhappy with those requirements. If this sale includes all that spectrum, then Verizon has a very good reason for the sale - so they can get rid of those pesky regulatory requirements and go back to being the control freaks they used to be.

As an AT&T customer in Portland, OR, does this mean my coverage is actually going to get worse? That's what seems implied if spectrum in my area is being traded away to Verizon so AT&T can get more coverage in Chicago.

As an AT&T customer in Portland, OR, does this mean my coverage is actually going to get worse? That's what seems implied if spectrum in my area is being traded away to Verizon so AT&T can get more coverage in Chicago.

IIRC ATT isn't doing anything with their AWS spectrum; so it shouldn't have any impact.

But hopefully Sprint and T-Mobile will also be given enough access to spectrum so that they can compete.

Not if AT&T and Verizon have anything to say about it.

All those high monthly fees and 20-cent text messages we're paying for? That's what finances this sort of thing. They've already crossed the threshold into 'rich enough to lobby for whatever they want', and are also 'too big to fail' in case they do something monumentally risky that no smaller competitor can afford to pull off. (And that includes hollowing out the company to pay the executives' lavish bonuses.)

This is one example where the government regulating capitalism makes sense. Otherwise Verizon would become the single dominant US phone company. - But hopefully Sprint and T-Mobile will also be given enough access to spectrum so that they can compete.- And I would also like to see small/regional US phone carriers being allowed to use/lease more phone networks from the major Telicos.

2 Things - there is significantly less regulation for wireless services than there is for landline service.

And ATT is bigger than you seem to think. Verizon is barely that much larger than ATT. This is a far contrast to the 80s when ATT was the dominant phone provider and the 2nd largest carrier was tiny in comparison. Both of the former are larger than ATT was at the time it was broken apart in the 80s.